5 Things We Learnt - Coventry Blaze

Thank you to Tony for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Tony on Twitter @DISGU15ED

Another team with more stories than you can shake a stick at were the 14/15 Coventry Blaze, and here's the five things I learnt:

1> Playoff champions - Congratulations to the Blaze for repeating what we did last year and turning around a pathetic season with a late charge culminating in a playoff title. It's been a ten year gap since their last one, and five since their last trophy, so well deserved.

2> The man who sacked Gerad - Here's some Chuck Weber stats for you. Pre-Chuck the blaze had 19 points in 24 games (0.79). With Chuck they were 32 from 28 (1.14). That's a 10 point shift, or the difference between 9th and 6th. It's been said many times, but No Chuck = No Trophy.

3> Brian Stewart - Despite what the IHJUK journals might have you believe, Stewey was the best nettie in the league last year. As unconventional as you like, and a bit of a dummy-spitting tantrum monkey, but the club rode on the back of his good form for most of the season.

4> Rawlyk and the country club set - From IHJUK all-star with Dundee to healthy scratch and early contract termination. What was happening behind the rumours we'll never know. Maybe his face didn't fit, maybe he was the split in the dressing room, but I'm pretty sure Marc won't be announcing him as his first signing at the Stars. Hero to Zero.

5> Shoot out marathon men - After 65 minutes of hockey, the players are tired, the fans are tired, even the ice is tired. So how do you fancy going 12 rounds against the Panthers, with the Blaze eventually taking it on the 24th shot? By time Sindel scored I think everyone was ready to go home!

Final talking point : After the signings of Rawlyk, Goertzen, Tendler and O'Marra, certain bloggers, who shall remain nameless, chose the Blaze as their favourites for the 14/15 league title. Shame I didn't take that bet with them, but then again going to Scarborough or Scunthorpe to pick up my winnings would have been a pain ;)

Favourite player : Stewart - makes me smile with his on-all-fours stretching, his scarecrow charges to intimidate breakaways, but he keeps the puck out of the net too.

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Farewell to one of our own

This morning came the breaking news that of the best, well in many eyes THE best (mine unashamedly being one), British back-up netminders has had to retire. Geoff Woolhouse, who for the last five campaigns has backed up Ervins Mustukovs, John DeCaro, Frank Doyle and Josh Unice so admirably will no longer be putting on his pads on again. The likeable local lad has had horrendous injuries over the last two seasons, and coupled with a business opportunity outside of hockey, means "Wooly" will no longer ice for us.

To the newcomers this might be a surprise, but to experienced watchers of our hockey club it isn't. Frozen Steel now pays it's own heartfelt tribute to the man in number 40. Apologies it's a bit extensive.

The Walkeden Review - Swedish Vestberg Joins The Steelers

Paul Thompson makes Swedish Left Winger Fredrik Vestberg his next signing

The 32-Year-Old left winger joins the Steelers after spending the last 13 years in the Allsvenskan where he spent 8 of them years in his hometown club of Aimtuna. Despite being a left winger Vestberg has spent the last 3 years playing centre so it will be interesting to see what Thompson will use him as.

In 509 games in the Allsvenskan Vestberg has record 280 points (108+172) adding a further 22 points in 40 post-season games (10+12) even then he's only sat 200 PIM including post-season so impressive numbers put up for the experienced winger. Fredrik will probably be expected to play plenty of Ice time and I think we'll certainly see him on one of the powerplay units. Fredrik has also represented Sweden at U16 through to the U19 level so it'll certainly good to see him in Sheffield for the new season as he takes up one of our two EU slots.

One final thing to say and that is welcome to Sheffield Fredrik.

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The Walkeden Review - Fitzgerald Joins the Steelers

Sheffield Steelers have completed the signing of American D-man Zack Fitzgerald from the Braehead Clan

Fitzgerald spent last season at the Braehead Clan where he helped them to finish runners up to the Steelers. Fitzgerald is a bit of your old fashioned enforcer and while there is many mixed views amongst fans on whether its a good signing or not in my opinion no one can deny it is what we lacked last season and it might not appeal to everyone but it certainly what we need someone to protect the other players to give them the freedom to play.

Last season with the Clan Fitzgerald recorded 14 points (2+12) in 50 games and sat for an impressive 336 PIM. The Steelers new signing joins up with former team mate Cullen Eddy who he played with at the Adirondack Phantoms.

When I saw the name of who we had signed I didn't know what to say because I wasn't very fond of him at the Clan especially after the incident with Danny Bois but I cant deny he is what we need so as long as he wears orange I'm sure i'll learn to love him and cheer him on.

Welcome to Sheffield Zack

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Mosienko Returns to Sheffield

Tyler Mosienko returns to Sheffield for a 2nd year.

Fan Favourite Tyler Mosienko will be returning to Sheffield next year for a 2nd year in orange. Tyler has a past which he was punished for being involved in match fixing, but Sheffield get him a 2nd chance and he repaid their faith by performing week in and week out last season and signing for another season.

It was one of the signings that all the fans wanted and have been waiting for and are just happy to get it complete. Mosienko will be a big player for the Steelers not just in the league campaign but in the CHL as well. Thompson said that we almost lost Tyler to Europe with a lot of teams interested in him but everyone is so happy to see him stay.

In 60 regular season games last season Tyler recorded 63 points (26+37) and Tyler has gone on to say to Thompson that his points output can be better and that can only be good for the Steelers. Mosienko also sat 42 PIM and into the post-season in 4 games recorded 3 points (0+3) and sitting for 2 PIM. Mosienko comes back to help the Steelers with a title defence and hopefully pick up even more silverware.

Welcome back Mozzy we'll see you in August.

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5 Things We Learnt - Champions Hockey League

Thank you to Tony for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Tony on Twitter @DISGU15ED

In the week of the Champions Hockey League (CHL) group stage draw, here's five things we're been learning about the teams coming to the UK this summer.

1> Frolunda Gothenburg (SWE) - The Indians were ranked thirteenth in the draw, the highest ranking possible as they won neither the league nor playoffs last year. They did however finish second in the league and only fell to Vaxjo (more about them later) in the playoff semifinal. They also boast the highest home attendance in the SHL every year, and with over 10,000 at every game are in the top five supported teams across Europe. No mugs then.

2>  JYP Jyvaskyla (FIN) - A ranking of 20th doesn't really do justice to the Liiga playoff's bronze medalists as they also finished a strong fourth in the league. Their arena only holds 4,500, but as Jyvaskyla is a four hour bus ride north of Helsinki I guess they don't expect too many away fans! We've got more chance of beating them at rallying.

3> Vaxjo Lakers (SWE) - Current SHL playoff champions and top ranked team in the CHL draw. Like Braehead they're a relatively young team in the top league, but unlike Braehead they held on for their first title last year. Get your flags ready as the Orange and Blue army and their Scottish dual national Liam Reddox head for Glasgow.

4> ERC Ingolstadt (GER) - A surprise winner of the DEL playoffs in 13/14. They finished a healthy 4th in the league last year, and almost held on to their title after going up 2:1 in their best of seven playoff finals this year before eventually losing to Mannheim. Jeff Szwez formerly of Belfast played for the Panthers last year.

5> Game dates - the six group games are due to be played over three consecutive Thurs-Sun long weekends at the end of August / early September. So the first game could be 20 Aug and the last could be 6 September, and as I can't find any other events listed at the Arena, I'm hopeful we'll get some nice Fri/Sat evening dates.

Chances of progression for the GB clubs are about one in a million as we're ranked 42 and 46 out of 48 for good reason. It would be a massive shock if either club could even repeat Nottingham's feat of winning one CHL game - but it's unmissable as it will be the best hockey ever played at either Arena. I can't wait.

Get to Ice Sheffield on 15/16 August to see GB's two entrants in pre-season preparation.

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CHL - The Stage for the CHL Is Set

The CHL draw has been made and the Steelers are ready! As are we

The Champions Hockey League draw has been made and the Steelers will face Swedish Elite League side Frolunda Gothenberg and Finish Liiga side JYP Jyvaskyla in Group 14.

The dates for the game are yet to be set but I'm sure it wont be too long till its arranged and here is a bit of history on our CHL opponents.

The first out of the hat was Swedish club Frölunda Indians Gothenburg of the SHL. In 1995 they played in the second tier of Swedish hockey, the Allvenskan.

They were originally founded as long ago as 1938 and became independent in 1984. They play out of the Scandanavium arena which holds 12044 people. When this building is being used for other events they play at Frolundaborg in Western Sweden and overall they have had the highest attendance in the league for over a decade. Indeed they set a Swedish record for 11,688 in 2007-08.

Their most famous players are Henrik Lundqvist (NYR), Erik Karlsson(Ottawa), Daniel Alfredsson(Ottawa/Detroit), Per-Johan Axelsson, Louis Eriksson, Alexander Steen, Lars Eller, Mikkel Bödker and Viktor Stålberg.

Honours

National Championships:
3 – 1965, 2003, 2005 

LAST FIVE SEASONS:

2014-15: 2^nd regular season, Semi-finals, CHL Finals
2013-14: 2^nd regular season, Quarter-finals
2012-13: 6^th regular season, Quarter-finals
2011-12: 5^th regular season, Quarter-finals
2010-11: 9^th regular season, out of playoffs

The second European team Steelers play is JYP Jyväskylä of Finland is a club in the SM-Liiga, founded in 1923, is a treasure for the people of city of Jyvaskyla, in central Finland. The club achieved promotion to the league in the spring of 1985, and has played there ever since. For the last few years JYP has been one of the most successful clubs in Finland. In the last five seasons, JYP has won the regular season three times and the league championship twice (2012 & 2009). JYP won the European Trophy in 2014.

In 2010 they entered into a partnership agreement with the Boston Bruins of the NHL to enable transfer of players and for development.

Honours

National Championships: 
2 – 2009, 2012

European Trophy: 
1 – 2014

LAST FIVE SEASONS:

2014–15: 4^th regular season, Semi-finals
2013–14: 5^th regular season, Quarter-finals
2012–13: 3^rd regular season, Semi-finals
2011–12: 4^th regular season, Champions
2010–11: 1^st regular season, Semi-finals
2009–10: 1^st regular season, Semi-finals

Sheffield Steelers have also signed Jason Hewitt on a one year extension which will make it his 11th season with the Season and will see him be awarded with his testimonial through out the season. Welcome back Jason.

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5 Things We Learnt - Cardiff Devils

Thank you to Tony for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Tony on Twitter @DISGU15ED

The huge Cardiff Devils 2014/15 season makes for an easy five things review, even from a Steelers fan's perspective.

1> All hail the King - the best news for the suffering Devils fans came before the season even began as new owners took over the running of the club. 'Killer' Kelman and his player coach Lord brought the passion back to the club and the BBT. This change was so stupendous it's worth 'five things' on its own, but space is limited...

2> Challenge Cup champions - the Devils deserved their win, but don't believe the urban myth about the victory being bigger than the 2:1 score line suggests. IMO obviously.

3> Travelling Red Army - the outnumbered taffs were determined to turn the neutral Sheffield Arena into an even bigger blue tent for the CC final. The noise was awesome, and the crescendo during the Welsh anthem brought out the best in the home fans too. They left feeling Gwlad all over.

4> From ninth to third - hard to imagine now, but the Devils were 37 points off the top in the top-hat inspired franchise bashing farce that was the 13/14 season. Finishing just a couple off, and being in contention until the last weekend was more than Cardiff dared to hope for - a different bounce or two in the last weekend's Steelers game could have turned it into a fairy-story.

5> More to come in 15/16? - the best bet we have for the Devils not taking the league next year is the recruitment headache that the larger ice at the new arena will bring. Do they stick with a hard-nosed BBT team, or twist and go with a team more suited to the larger ice, or do they get stuck between the two.

Final talking point, remember that hangover game where the Devils lost the plot, and the Steelers went right up to eleven? Those two points were very handy weren't they.

Favourite player : Andrew Hotham - rookie blueliner from the DEL became the elite league's defensive MVP with 21 goals. Maybe not on the same line as our Ben though!

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The Walkeden Review - Jace Coyle Is Added To The Blue Line

Jace Coyle Joins Paul Thompson for a Second Successive Season

24-Year-Old Canadian Defenceman spent last season with Thompson at Aalborg in Denmark and has been convinced to join Thompson at the Steelers for the 15/16 season.

Coyle has had a professional contract with the Dallas Stars as well as their AHL affiliated team the Texas Stars where he played alongside Gord Baldwin who has spent two years at the Steelers. He has also spent time with Idaho Steelheads in the ECHL before moving to Europe to join Aalborg where in 36 games scored 21 points (2+19) adding a further goal in the post season and accumulating 85 penalty minutes through the regular and post season.

Coyle is very early in his professional career but is said to be an extremely good skater probably one of the most mobile defenceman in the league and will be expected to put up points with plenty of Ice time and Jace said that he likes to quarter-back on the powerplay so improvements to any man advantage is a good addition.

Jace Coyle is a massive pick up for the Steelers and certainly look forward to seeing him in orange.

Seth Bennett spoke with Paul Thompson about the signing

listen to ‘Steelers coach Paul Thompson compares new signing Jace Coyle to Neal Martin’ on audioBoom

Peter Spencer spoke with Jace Coyle about signing for the Steelers

listen to ‘INTERVIEW: Defenceman Jace Coyle on signing for @SteelersHockey from Danish side Aalborg’ on audioBoom

One final thing left to say and that is welcome to the Sheffield Steelers Jace Coyle.

I'm also playing in the UK Forum All-Stars 2015 in Sheffield representing the Blue Cross for a second year in a row and any donations big or small will be appreciated and you can donate by pressing the button to the right.

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The Walkeden Review - Moyer Joins Steelers

Steelers today confirmed the signing of 32-year-old Canadian Russel Moyer.

Moyer is the first new signing to the Steelers for the 15/16 season and the defenceman is known as an all-round player in past teams he'd contributed offensively for his teams but more recently he's had to play a more defensive role while in Sweden and adapt to their style of play and as a part of Karlskrona last season they wasn't fancied to get promoted to top division in Sweden but played a big part in helping them achieve promotion to the top division.

A well experienced player who has spent the last 6 years playing in Europe in some good league and will be a good addition to the Steelers, Moyer stands at 6ft and Thompson said he wanted to add a bit more size to the team so expect some bigger guys to come in. Moyer makes that 3 defenceman for the 15/17 season and just below this is his interview with Peter Spencer so take a listen.

listen to ‘INTERVIEW: Defenceman Russ Moyer (@RussMoyer) speaks after signing @SteelersHockey #EIHL’ on audioBoom

On another note good luck to Mark Thomas who after 10 years of service to the Steelers has joined the Manchester Phoenix to be closer to home. Thank you for all the memories Mark you'll be missed but I'm sure we'll see you around the Arena during the season.

I'm also playing in the UK Forum All-Stars 2015 in Sheffield representing the Blue Cross for a second year in a row and any donations big or small will be appreciated and you can donate by pressing the button to the right.

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5 Things We Learnt - Braehead Clan

Thank you to Tony for his contribution to FSB, All Credit for this piece goes to him so any queries you can contact Tony on Twitter @DISGU15ED

More close season ramblings. What five things did we learn about the Braehead Clan, and was 14/15 a glass half-empty or glass half-full season?

1> Fifth to Second - after finishing fifth the previous year almost every Clan fan would have gone without their haggis to finish one point off the top this time. Every team has its slumps and luckily for the Steelers, the Clan ran out of steam just as the fat lady was warming up.

2> CHL baby - I wonder what the nice folk of Geneva or Salzburg or Vienna are going to make of the Purple Army? It's a great reward for a cracking season, and no doubt took away some of the pain. Here's hoping that Clangus has had all of his vaccination shots well ahead of time.

3> Talking of Clangus - you've got to applaud his and the Purple Army's contribution to the POFW. That's the new party block, and this is the team you can support without spoiling your appetite - but book tickets early if you want to get in!

4> Conference beneficiaries* - can't let this review go without 'correcting' the league table. It wasn't their choice to run the league like this, but taking average points won against every other team, the Clan still finish third behind Sheffield and Cardiff. The Blaze, Panthers and Giants can have no complaints. Top work.

5> Challenge Cup QF - the start of the chokers tag, and maybe a sign of things to come for both teams as the Clan allowed a 3:1 first leg lead to slip against Weber's regenerated Blaze, despite scoring first in the second leg. Maybe Finner should try pacing anti-clockwise for a bit.

Final talking point : fresh off the plane Danny Bois didn't know what had hit him on his first trip to Braehead. Zach Fitzgerald versus an unwilling combatant was an introduction he didn't ever seem to recover from. Fitzy ended up with 344 PIM as he and Frank provided lots of proper blue collar Finner hockey!

Favourite player : Leigh Salters - heavy hitting forward who makes space for his line mates.

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The Walkeden Review - Recent Procedings

So it's not been a month since the season ended and it's already been an interesting off-season but it would be boring if it was quiet.

The most surprising was the sacking off league winning head coach Gerad Adams who had his contract terminated by the Sheffield Steelers. This moved shocked a lot of fans not just Sheffield fans but around the league I mean the man had won one league championship and a playoff title in just 14 months in charge as well as losing two cup finals in that time as well.

Tony Smith said in an interview that the reason for the sacking was nothing he had done but he was looking at the bigger picture. I might not agree 100% with the sacking but I try and be as neutral as possible especially when I'm updating and while I too like to look at the bigger picture I did understand Tony Smiths decision to cancel the contract of Gerad. The picture Tony is looking at is a culture change in Sheffield especially with us taking part in the Champions Hockey League and the formation of the U20 league as well as our commitments in the EIHL, so Tony Smith has gone on record saying that he wants a head coach that can handle the responsibility off all this and he feels Gerad Isn't qualified enough for this which in one way might be insulting any maybe had handled it wrong and I don't think he would have accepted another post. From the moment the news was announced fans have been moaning and I agree everyone is entitled to an opinion but I'm not arguing that, but fans are now worried about whether certain players will come back because of the departure of Adams but it's not always the coach that sells the club I'm preety sure Tony Smith has a part to play. It is also why in this sport you should never get too attached to players because it's not like football and contracts don't always mean something, you get the odd player that hangs around for years for example, Legue, Phillips, Hewitt and Thomas and then you always get the players that don't stay for a year or two.

Where the fans worry about players returning with Adams no longer being in charge you've only got to look how they function elsewhere for example in the NHL when do you ever hear about the Head Coach recruiting players? You don't it's nearly always the work of the General Mangers to sign players, handle trades etc, obviously the head coach will have a say on what he thinks he needs but it's not all the head coach and what I'm trying to get at is there no need to worry as it's not always the coach that sells the club, their surroundings, the owner, staff and most importantly the fans will help sell the club to them. We might get the odd player that doesn't come back which is likely and fans will say it's because they sacked Adams well that hockey for you. I like to think CHL will have a big part to play to help players decide! Okay realistically we can't and won't win it but it's the opportunity of playing against some of the best players in Europe so plenty of selling points which fans don't think about just concentrate on one aspect.

So far we've found out Mathieu Roy is back for a further two years which joins Ben O'Connor as he's got two years remaining on his contract. Cullen Eddy and Colton Fretter are returning on the second year of their university deal, Robert Dowd, Jonathan Phillips Jeff Legue are also returning on the final year of their current contracts. Peterborough Phantoms also announced that Luke Ferrara wouldn't be returning and since then the Sheffield Star announced that Ferrara had signed a full time deal with the Steelers to make that 8 players already for the 15/16 season. We also found out that Frank Doyle is retiring and he had also said that if it wasn't for his hand injury he would have been back in Sheffield, he might have only been a Steeler for two years but what a two years is what he performed every single night and I believe we all wish him the best of luck for the future.

We've also just found out that our new head coach will be Paul Thompson, okay it was probably the worst best kept secret to date but I'm not going to lie that I'm over the moon with it and Paul isn't going to be just our head coach he's also going to be the general manager which means he will overlook all things on the hockey side of business.

Anyone that thinks this is a bad appointment well he's not just an ex elite league coach. He's the best British coach around and probably "one" of the best coaches to ever be on these shores. A coach that took Great Britain forward when everybody thought they would never get where they are today. He went to Europe and competed, improved himself and is coming back even better than when he left. Looking at the bigger picture this is the way forward that's obviously my opinion.

That's it from me, well until Thompson makes a signing and we'll have an article piece so enjoy the summer guys and you'll hear from us soon.
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